


The Hunter and the Swordsman

by dreamsdescent



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fuck yeah Elf Kylo, Gender-swapped Beren and Luthien, Tolkien AU, maybe next time, sorry no smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-16 02:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16075979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamsdescent/pseuds/dreamsdescent
Summary: It was the first part of the night, and the Hunter was rising in the sky. Four stars stretched out in each direction, with a belt of three across the middle.For many generations he had watched over her kind during these long nights in the depths of winter, and now he was her only companion.The star that made the Hunter’s right shoulder shone red, reminding her of warmth, of flowers and flesh and blood, of all the things that sustained life amidst the cold emptiness of the heavens.With the fire of earth at her back and the fire in the sky over her face, Rey calmed herself and listened. Soon she could hear it, the song of the red star, low and lonesome like the call of the mourning dove.She reached out to it as if it were to someone, and sang a quiet, but high and warbling answer, as if to say, you are not alone. Whether she was reassuring herself or the other, she did not know.The red star blinked in the sky, beating along with her heart as she fell into a dreamless sleep.





	1. Rigel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [monsterleadmehome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/monsterleadmehome/gifts).



> Happy Birthday to my sweet friend and Reylo author extraordinaire, Monsterleadmehome! Thank you for being my first reader and for encouraging me when I felt like giving up on this. Mwah! <3

_1982 – I_

 

_Dream ended, I went out, awake_

_To new snow fallen in the dark,_

_Stainless on road and field, no track_

_Yet printed on my day of work._

 

_I heard the wild ones muttering,_

_Assent their dark arrival made_

_At dawn, gray dawn on dawn-gray wing_

_Outstretched, shadowless in that shade,_

 

_Down from high distances arrived_

_Within the shelter of the hill;_

_The river shuddered as they cleaved_

_Its surface, floated, and were still._

 

 

Rey was cold.

It cut through her skull, whetting her teeth, sharpening all the senses dulled by hunger and weariness.

The cold and the hunger warred within her, taking turns cutting and aching.

And she warred with the cold and hunger, fighting the weight that wanted her to lie down in the snow and never wake up.

Soon, she told herself. Soon a fire would heat her limbs and meat would warm her from the inside, filling the empty place there, if only for a time.

She willed each quiet step, the soft falls of her leather moccasins muffled by the snow. She willed herself to focus, listen.

She began to hear it, quiet at first, pitter-pat, syncopated like the loping of footfalls or the beating of a heart. Faster, each moment was almost imperceptibly faster, as she pursued, timing her breath to its rhythm.

Over the beat she hummed a melody, wild and shrill with the thrill of the chase.

It had surprised her at first, the way hunter and hunted mirrored one another, her prey no more afraid to die in that moment than she was to starve, both of them lost in the ecstasy of pumping limbs, more alive in this moment than at any other time.

Rey closed her eyes. She didn’t need them now. She could hear the pulse of every living thing around her, tree and soil, birds in their winter homes, insects burrowed under the bark.

She wove her own melody among them, drawing it closer to the creature she was hunting.

 _I am overtaking you now_ , she sang. _You will give yourself to me. You will yield._

 _I yield,_ echoed back to her in its own voice.

Rey panted, faster and faster as she closed in for the kill. She sank her knife into its neck with a final gasp.

\--

Rey’s breath slowed to its normal pace again, but still she had to work quickly or the blood on her hands would freeze them. She built a fire, which blazed and cooked down to coals while she skinned the graceful animal, chanting a song of thanks to the gods while the smoke curled upwards.

\--

Ainulindalie, her father had called it, and the Song of the Ainur, the music of Iluvatar. The great music that brought the world into being and sustained it, moving through each living thing with its pitch and tempo woven into one continuous symphony.

 _And you and I can hear it_ , he had told her, _more than many others of our kind._

Mortals, he meant. The Elves taught him in his youth how to listen to the music, shape it, and return his own melody, connecting him to every other being.

 _And now I will teach you,_ he had said, _and you will be even greater in the music than I am._

But that was long ago, when she was just a little girl, before the servants of the Dark Lord had taken him silently in the night, leaving her to wake under the stars alone, her screams echoing endlessly in the wooded hills.

\--

Rey was too hungry to wait, burning her mouth on the tough roasted meat, chewing rapidly. At least she still had a little salt left. She was grateful for the full belly, but she couldn’t help but dream of the summer days when sweet berries would cool her dry tongue, and wild herbs would season the tender meat of small fowl, stewed with roots and nuts. The furtive creatures of the winter woods kept her alive, but they never quite sated the gnawing at the back of her mind.

After she had eaten all she could, she stretched the hide on sticks to cure near the fire, and lay down on the opposite side, furs from previous hunts insulating her against the cold of the ground and the chill of the air.

It was the first part of the night, and the Hunter was rising in the sky. Four stars stretched out in each direction, with a belt of three across the middle.

For many generations he had watched over her kind during these long nights in the depths of winter, and now he was her only companion.

The star that made the Hunter’s right shoulder shone red, reminding her of warmth, of flowers and flesh and blood, of all the things that sustained life amidst the cold emptiness of the heavens.

With the fire of earth at her back and the fire in the sky over her face, Rey calmed herself and listened. Soon she could hear it, the song of the red star, low and lonesome like the call of the mourning dove.

She reached out to it as if it were someone, and sang a quiet, but high and warbling answer, as if to say, you are not alone. Whether she was reassuring herself or the other, she did not know.

The red star blinked in the sky, beating along with her heart as she fell into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The constellation Orion was named for a hunter in Greek mythology.
> 
> Rigel, Orion's left foot, is a blue supergiant and the brightest star in the constellation, though it is occasionally outshone by variable red supergiant, Betelgeuse. Rigel is the seventh brightest star in the night sky.
> 
> Poem from A Timbered Choir: Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry, p. 39.


	2. Borgil

_1992 – III_

 

_Again we come_

_to the resurrection_

_of bloodroot from the dark,_

 

_a hand that reaches up_

_out of the ground,_

_holding a lamp._

 

Kylo Ren stood gazing at the sky. He always meditated on the stars before a battle to center himself. Before him, low on the horizon, rose Menelmacar, the Swordsman of the Heavens, with his broad shoulders, wide stance, and shining belt of three stars.

Kylo had felt a kinship with Menelmacar since he first held a sword and felt the music ringing through his hand and the bright metal.

Menelmacar’s foot, the brightest star in the constellation, pulsed bluish before him. He focused on this star to still the cacophony of sounds struggling within him.

Soon the song of the star rose above the din, light and airy like the song of a  _ kirinki  _ bird. Gradually he became aware of the sounds of the other living things pulsing in harmony with the melody of the stars.

Their beauty almost outshone the discord of the voices in his own head, a steady low buzzing undercurrent like a swarm of angry bees. He lost time listening to the music within until the sound of trumpets cut through his reverie.

The army was marshalling for a midnight attack on the hidden Elven city of Gondolin.

Orcs and a few groups of men scrambled to get in formation, bickering among themselves while their captains shouted commands. A few skirmishes arose, which were quickly quelled with a stab to the belly, the bodies left to be trampled and rot where they lay.

Kylo Ren barely noticed their cries over the roar in his head, like the constant fall of water over rocks. He passed through the ranks easily, one long stride for every two of theirs, and reached the front of the line.

Below him stood the city, gleaming silver in the moonlight behind rows of Elves and Men in perfect formation. He could hear their music: deep, slow, and mournful, like a song he couldn’t quite remember. When his helm flashed, he felt a tremor of fear ripple through the beat, which soon righted itself.

The armies stood facing each other and time stopped, waiting for the horns to call them to battle.

The harsh crow of the orc horn was soon answered by a clear bright call of Elven trumpets.

Kylo Ren strode forth toward the enemy ranks, caring nothing for the volley of arrows falling from the battlements. He could hear each one whizz, tuned into its pitch, and cast it aside. He felt the fear again and he could see it in their eyes.

The Elves had this music, although they foolishly turned it towards the craft of building and growing beautiful things, rather than bending the world to their will. The few who had done this would not be among the rank and file soldiers. They were shunned and exiled. Many, like him, found their way into the service of the Dark Lord and his right hand, Master Snoke the Wise, who taught them how to wield their power.

That power coursed through Kylo Ren now as he cut down the front lines with a few deft strokes. Dark roses of blood bloomed across the embroidery in their tunics as the light went out of his enemies’ eyes. With each thrust Kylo heard the small knock of a memory at the door of his mind, the sound of another man breathing his last, falling, falling, falling. But Kylo wouldn’t let it in. Couldn’t, he told himself, quite hear it over the deafening roar. Anyway, it did not matter.

His sword sang as it cut through the air, clashing with Elven blades in a steady rhythm of mastery and death. Soon the Elves were retreating behind their towers and walls, and the siege would begin.

Kylo Ren was no longer needed here. Crows circled overhead as he turned and marched away, barely registering his disgust as the orcs picked over the fallen, taunting friend and foe alike as they struggled for their last breaths, taking their weapons and rifling through their clothes and armor for anything of value.

Kylo Ren’s business was with Master Snoke.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Borgil is the Sindarin name composed of the words for "hot, red," and "star." It probably corresponds to the star we know as Betelgeuse.
> 
> Betelgeuse, Orion's right shoulder, is a red supergiant which occasionally outshines Rigel as the brightest star in the constellation, and is the ninth-brightest star in the night sky. If the human eye could see all the wavelengths of radiation.
> 
> Wikipedia states, "Having been ejected from its birthplace in the Orion OB1 Association—which includes the stars in Orion's Belt—this runaway star has been observed moving through the interstellar medium at a speed of 30 km/s, creating a bow shock over four light-years wide" and I can't imagine a better symbol for our boy Ben.
> 
> The poem comes from A Timbered Choir: Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry, p. 155.


	3. Mintaka

_1979 – I_

 

_I go among trees and sit still._

_All my stirring becomes quiet_

_around me like circles on water._

_My tasks lie in their places_

_where I left them, asleep like cattle._

 

_Then what is afraid of me comes_

_and lives a while in my sight._

_What it fears in me leaves me,_

_and the fear of me leaves it._

_It sings, and I hear its song._

 

_Then what I am afraid of comes._

_I live for a while in its sight._

_What I fear in it leaves it,_

_and the fear of it leaves me._

_It sings, and I hear its song._

 

_After days of labor,_

_mute in my consternations,_

_I hear my song at last,_

_and I sing it. As we sing,_

_The day turns, the trees move._

 

There was a new song in the forest.

Rey could hear it, but she could not tell what it was or where it was coming from. It was low and mournful like the song of the star, but discordant and off beat. The dissonance fascinated her, and she soon forgot her hunger while tracking this sound.

It got louder as she drew near a stand of _mallorn_ trees that she had never seen before. Their golden leaves cast a gentle light, and within the circle there was no snow on the ground, but rather a carpet of pale _niphredil_ and yellow _elanor_ blooms.

This was an enchanted place. She stepped up to the line of trees, not daring to enter.

Then she saw him, just opposite her. A man, tall and fell, in heavy black hood and robes, and a black helm with silver bars covering the eyes.

They stood transfixed, not speaking as their songs met across the empty space, and intertwined, hers like a melody, high and lilting, and his the counterpart, low and solid.

She felt his surprise as he realized she could hear him, too. A note of longing drifted between them. _Remove your helm_ , she thought, and his arms reached for the clasps. Slowly he lifted it away and returned her gaze.

His hair was black as night and his face shone pale and cold like the moon. But in his eyes was a golden gleam of sunlight, reflected from the glow of the trees.

Rey heard his song settle and shift as her own song beat faster. Suddenly she recognized it, the song of the red star.

 _It is you_ , she breathed.

The spell broken, they crossed the distance between them to meet in the middle of the enchanted circle. The man reached for her face.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Rey,” she said simply.

“ _Tinuviel_ ,” he rejoined. “I am Kylo Ren.”

He took her hand and they sat down together amongst the _niphredil_ and _elanor_.

“You hear the Music?” he asked. She nodded. He took her other hand. “Listen,” he said, and closed his eyes. She followed suit.

Rey heard a melody begin, something sad but beautiful, with an uneven beat. She knew that he was sharing the memory of his life with her.

A mother and father, Elf and mortal. A son’s growth in power, but also in fear and loneliness.

A dark shape, promising control, belonging.

A glint of metal, flashing red light, darkness, awe and terror, and finally the wide eyes and gentle touch of an old man in the moment of his death.

“You killed him,” Rey whispered, opening her eyes.

“Yes,” he said. “I had to.”

Rey closed her eyes and reached out again, this time to weave her own tale of loneliness and a father lost to the servants of the Dark Lord.

“I had nothing to do with that,” he begged her to understand.

“I know,” she said.

\--

A nightingale sang in the trees above them as Rey built a fire. She gently arranged the pieces of kindling against each other and struck a spark from her flint. Silently she fanned the flames and added fuel to the fire, each piece of kindling bigger than the last.

Finally, she lay down next to Kylo Ren between the furs, as tendrils of blue smoke wound their way around the bright red sparks rising to join the stars above.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mintaka is the far right star in Orion's belt, and was seen by astrologers as a sign of good fortune. 
> 
> Poem from A Timbered Choir: Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry, p. 5.


	4. Alnilam

_1992 – V_

 

_I too am not at home_

_When you are gone_

_And I am here alone._

_Until you come_

 

_I am as dead, condemned_

_To fractionhood,_

_A stillness of the blood,_

_Dark in the ground._

 

_But I rise up alive_

_When you come near_

_Our place of flowers where_

_Alone I live._

 

The days passed as if in a dream, and they hardly noticed the hours of light lengthening. At first they simply stayed in the circle, sharing their thoughts and memories and talking about the flora and fauna of the woods.

Rey knew the use and value of things for survival, but Kylo Ren taught her his people’s lore. Every bird, beast, and plant had a story and a name.

Soon, however, they became hungry and decided to venture beyond the trees to find sustenance. As soon as Kylo stepped out of the golden light, the roar returned to his mind and he dropped to his knees with an anguished cry at the sudden pain.

When Rey stooped to help him, he recoiled from her touch and nearly hissed, “No! Stay away from me!”

“You are not in your right mind,” she responded, and forcibly dragged him by the arms back into the circle. Immediately his face softened again.

“Rey!  _ Tinuviel _ ! Don’t leave me!” he cried.

She touched her lips to his forehead. “Shh, I won’t be gone long. I will come back with something to restore your strength. As long as you stay here among the trees, you will be well.”

So the days passed with Rey hunting and foraging while Kylo listened in the center of the circle. And in the evening he sang Rey the songs of his people, of the first two great Trees of Valinor that gave light to the whole world, of Feanor who saved their light in the jewels he called the Silmarils, and of the Dark Lord Morgoth who stole them, unleashing betrayal, kinslaying, and endless war upon Aman.

Rey listened, captivated, but she loved best of all the Lay of Leithian, Release from Bondage, which told of the love of Beren and Luthien, Man and Elf, whose love thwarted the Dark Lord and even Death itself.

\--

One day, when Rey returned from her hunt, Kylo was gone. She searched the woods but he seemed to have left no trace, and she could no longer hear his song.

For days she searched, until she was weak from sorrow and hunger. Just when she thought she might lie down and die of grief, she came upon an encampment. She waited silently on the outskirts, listening. She heard a mix of Elven and mortal tongues, and even a few unfamiliar gravelly voices coming from short, stocky figures with long beards. Those must be the Dwarves from Kylo’s songs, she thought. There had long been bitterness between the two races, but in times of great need they would band together in defense against the Dark Lord. This must be one of those times.

Emboldened, Rey approached the camp with her arms out, singing a greeting song in two languages. Immediately a group of archers circled her, bows drawn. They were Wood-elves in green tunics, their long golden hair braided above their right ears.

“Who are you, and what brings you to this wood?” the leader demanded.

“I am Rey, daughter of the House of Hador. Long have I lived alone in exile after the servants of the Dark Lord took my father in the night. Now I seek the swordsman, Kylo Ren.”

“Then you are a friend of those who serve Iluvatar?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered simply, and collapsed.

They cared for Rey, feeding her  _ lembas  _ and herbs to return her strength. Soon she was visited by their leader, General Leia Organa, an Elf with a gentle smile and dark hair and eyes that made Rey’s heart ache.

After hearing Rey’s story and telling her some of what she knew of Rey’s father, Leia asked her, “Tell me, why do you seek Kylo Ren?”

“I met him, in the woods,” Rey faltered. “We spent many days together. I believe Master Snoke has placed a curse on his mind to keep him in his service. I wish to find him and to free him.”

“You may find him,” Leia responded quietly, “But no one can free him. This spell is of his own choosing. To cement his power in bending the Music to his will, he sacrificed his own father.”

“I know,” said Rey. “He showed me his memory. But, Your Grace, I saw something else. The sacrifice did not make him more powerful. It broke him. I believe he wants to return, but he thinks it is too late. I think it is not.”

“I wish I could believe that, Rey.” Leia said. “He was my son. But now I know he is gone. He has sworn his enmity to all those who remain faithful to Iluvatar, and we to him. Even if I wished to show him mercy, others would not.”

Rey stayed with the army for a while, learning more about the Music, the history of recent battles with Morgoth’s forces, and the location of Master Snoke’s fortress.

One night, just as she was falling asleep beneath the light of the stars, she woke suddenly with a song of fear and anguish pounding in her ears. When she opened her eyes, they fell on the red star of Menelmacar, and she knew it was Kylo, calling to her. He was being tormented, punished for the long delay in his return and the cracks in his commitment to Snoke that showed in his mind. Rey knew what she had to do. Immediately she rose, packed some provisions for the trip, and snuck away before anyone knew what she was doing.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alnilam is the center star in Orion's belt. 
> 
> Poem from A Timbered Choir: Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry, p. 157.


	5. Alnitak

_1992 – II_

 

_Lift up the dead leaves_

_and see, waiting_

_in the dark, in cold March,_

 

_the purplish stems, leaves,_

_and buds of twinleaf,_

_infinitely tender, infinitely_

 

_expectant. They straighten_

_slowly into the light after_

_the nights of frost. At last_

 

_the venture is made: the brief_

_blossoms open, the petals fall,_

_the hinged capsules of seed_

 

_grow big. The possibility_

_of this return returns_

_again to the seed, the dark,_

 

_the long wait, and the light again._

 

The Gates of Angband. They were taller than trees, built into the rock face on either side, impenetrable. Rey walked along the rock to see if she could find a chink, but there was none.

Then she waited beside the gates, hidden in a grove of small shrubs, to see if anyone would come or go and leave her an opening to sneak in, but no one came.

She listened for any life around or beyond her, but she could hear nothing but the hardness of the rock and the trickle of water, and underneath it all, a loud, dissonant buzz, like a swarm of bees, menacing and angry.

As she listened, the sound grew slowly but steadily louder and louder, until it seemed to drown out all her thought. She could feel herself beginning to go mad.

With her last bit of reason, she wove a song of love and despair for the fate of Kylo Ren. When she finished, she fell to the ground and nearly fainted with grief. But she heard a small noise. She looked up and saw a door appear at the edge of the gate. Outlined in the door was the shape of a bird with wings outstretched.

She ran forward and placed her hand on the bird, since there was no handle.

It opened.

\--

Rey could hear Kylo’s song now, and she followed it through a maze of passageways, tuning her ear to it so the buzzing would not overtake her with madness. Nooks and crannies in the wall would present themselves just when she needed them when she heard orcs or some other twisted creature coming near.

Finally she came to a dead end where Kylo’s song was the loudest. A door was there, with an iron ring hanging from it.

She pulled with all her strength, but could not open the heavy door. She could not have come all this way to fail now. She cried out in frustration.

A voice answered her. The voice of Kylo Ren.

She reached out to him with her mind. Together they wove a song around the door, a melody and counter melody, push and pull, and the stone began to move. Just as Kylo’s song was beginning to falter, the door opened enough that Rey was able to squeeze through the opening.

She saw Kylo collapsed against the wall, his fine outer robes gone and his clothing in tatters where he had been lashed across his back.

“ _Tinuviel_ ,” he whispered, but did not lift his eyes.

“What have they done to you?” she cried, touching his face tenderly.

“I displeased my master with my long delay. He is wise to punish me. I will not do so again.”

“No, you won’t,” Rey agreed, but for a different reason. “Come, let us get you away from here.”

“No, I cannot leave my master. Where would I go?”

Rey stretched her hands over Kylo’s shoulders where he sat, and began to chant a song of healing that her father had taught her. As she intoned, she heard Kylo’s inner music shift and settle as it joined her beat and the melodies intertwined. Slowly the skin across his back began to knit together and his face became calm. He opened his eyes and looked into Rey’s face. The shame and despair that had clouded them cleared, and a warm gleam of hope returned. Rey knew that she had lifted the curse.

“Quickly!” she said, and they ran back through the passageway whence she had come, hoping the door would appear again in her time of need. But before they reached the gate, a thunderous noise arose, deafening them. Around the corner stood an ancient, scarred man, if man he could be called, in a garish yellow robe.

“Where are you going, my young apprentice? You know you cannot escape. You have bound yourself to me. Without me, you have nothing.”

“That is a lie,” Kylo responded.

“Ah yes, I see you have found yourself a willing wench,” Snoke laughed.

Kylo reached for his sword.

“I warn you to reconsider,” Snoke said, pulling his own sword from its hiding place beneath a fold in his robes.

“Never,” Kylo replied, and advanced.

Snoke lifted his blade in defense.

There was no parry, no careful testing of one another’s abilities and weaknesses. Kylo struck with fury, leaving Snoke barely enough time to block each attack. Kylo was physically weakened, but his heart was strong for the first time. He swung in time to its beat, faster and faster as Snoke started to falter.

Rey listened in awe and joined her heartbeat to his, lending him her own strength for the battle. Even their breath joined in time as Kylo’s thrusts reached a crescendo. His blade found its mark in Snoke’s center, sending him to his knees. Blood gushed from the wound and the light began to fade from his eyes.

Kylo stood facing him as he regained his breath. Rey took his arm. “Come, we must hurry before they find us.”

They ran the remaining distance through the door which opened for them, and fled into the wilderness hand in hand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alnitak is the left star in Orion's belt. 
> 
> Poem from A Timbered Choir: Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry, p. 154.


	6. Bellatrix

_1979 – VI_

 

_What stood will stand, though all be fallen,_

_The good return that time has stolen._

_Though creatures groan in misery,_

_Their flesh prefigures liberty_

_To end travail and bring to birth_

_Their new perfection in new earth._

_At word of that enlivening_

_Let the trees of the woods all sing_

_And every field rejoice, let praise_

_Rise up out of the ground like grass._

_What stood, whole in every piecemeal_

_Thing that stood, will stand though all_

_Fall—field and woods and all in them_

_Rejoin the primal Sabbath’s hymn._

 

Rey and Kylo ran as far as they could before collapsing on the ground in exhaustion. They ate the last few bites of  _ lembas _ bread Rey saved for the return journey, and she began to look for a suitable place to make their camp for the night. In the morning they would begin the long trek to where Leia’s forces last were, although Rey did not know whether they would still be there.

Rey found a grove in a protected place, laid out the meager contents of her pack, and went to find Kylo where she had left him.

When she was almost there, she heard voices speaking in an Elven tongue. There stood Kylo with his hands at his side and his face downcast. Several paces away, two Wood-elf scouts in green held their bows drawn in his direction.

“What should we do with the traitor? I say we kill him here and now before he has the chance to visit any more crimes upon our people!”

“No, we must bring him to General Leia and let the council decide his fate. It is not our decision to make.”

“But what if he kills us on the way? Even if we bind him, they say he can do it with the Music.”

“But how can that be? The Music is the power of life. It is unnatural.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t care to find out.”

The first scout stretched his bow a little farther, and Rey began to run towards Kylo.

“No!” shouted the second scout as he realized his partner’s choice. The arrow flew from the bow. Rey could hear its quiet hum over the sound of her footfalls in slow motion. She heard Kylo’s song reach out to wind around the arrow, but it was weak and confused. She tried to join her strength to his, but she had no power to move things to her will. The arrow wobbled unpredictably in its path as Rey made one final running leap in front of Kylo, and it pierced her side.

She fell to the ground, gasping in pain. Kylo fell beside her, cradling her head and looking from the wound to her eyes in panic.

“Rey!  _ Tinuviel _ ! Don’t leave me!”

The scouts rushed over and stood in horror, watching the woman they knew to be a friend of Leia’s struggling for breath.

“Kylo,” she whispered between groans. “Can you heal with the Music? I have never--not with a wound like this. My strength is failing.”

“I will try,” he said, motioning to the scouts to remove the arrow and ripping his tunic to press strips over the wound. “Help me.”

He began to hum low in in this throat and then to chant a call to the Ainur for aid. A wind rustled the trees, then whirled around them, carrying with it the song of all the plants and animals in the forest, each with their own tone and timbre, blending into a beautiful cacophony of life energy.

Kylo held his hands on Rey’s shoulders and chanted as he tried to direct each note of the music into her ebbing melody. The chords and harmonies began to clash, off-sync and wild, as Rey’s breathing became more ragged and her eyes closed.

Desperate, Kylo wailed high above the chaos of sound, a piercing, despondent note that seemed to call all the others to it. Melodies and harmonies shifted and arranged themselves over a pattern of percussion that beat faster and faster.

Then Rey’s eyes opened.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bellatrix, meaning "female warrior," is Orion's left shoulder. 
> 
> Poem from A Timbered Choir: Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry, p. 13.


	7. Saiph

_1982 – X_

 

_The dark around us, come,_

_Let us meet here together,_

_Members of one another,_

_Here in our holy room,_

 

_Here on our little floor,_

_Here in the daylit sky,_

_Rejoicing mind and eye_

_Rejoining known and knower,_

_Light, leaf, foot, hand, and wing,_

_Such order as we know,_

_One household, high and low,_

_And all the earth shall sing._

 

Rey and Kylo Ren walked through the forest together. The snow had almost melted, and everywhere new bits of yellow and green were beginning to appear. They came to the circle of  _ Mallorn _ trees, where the golden leaves of winter were now fallen to the ground to make way for the new year’s growth.

Kylo stopped at the edge of the circle, while Rey entered it. She turned and took his hand. They looked at each other for a long moment, as memories of loneliness passed between them, replaced by a tenuous hope for a new kind of life together. Then he stepped across the threshold.

As they moved toward the center of the circle, they felt their doubts falling away, replaced by gentle tones that passed back and forth between them, melody and harmony interweaving until there was no distinction.

They stayed in this place as the light softened and the shadows lengthened. Soon it was dark and the stars came out, circling in the heavens. Menelmacar rose above the horizon, strong shoulders and steady feet to watch over them. Tuning in the red star and blue star, they could hear their own songs reflected and completed, now at peace. As one, their spirits soared into the night sky.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saiphm from the Arabic for "sword of the giant," is Orion's right foot. 
> 
> Orion is visible during the winter until about March, following the timeline of this story.
> 
> Poem from A Timbered Choir: Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 by Wendell Berry, p. 52.
> 
> Thanks for reading and come see me on Tumblr! http://dreamsdescent.tumblr.com/


End file.
